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ISSN 0958-5079 Tentacle No. 29March 2021
12
Report for the Bermuda Department of Environment & Natural
Resources, Bermuda. 40 p.
Ovaska, K. & Outerbridge, M. 2019a. Poecilozonites bermudensis.
The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2019:
e.T77145002A77145257.
Ovaska, K. & Outerbridge, M. 2019b. Poecilozonites circumfirmatus.
The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2019:
e.T77149902A77151067.
Mark E. Outerbridge, Department of Environment & Natural
Resources, 17 North Shore Road, Hamilton Parish, FL04, Bermuda.
mouterbridge@gov.bm
Kristiina Ovaska, Biolinx Environmental Research Ltd, and Research
Associate, Royal British Colombia Museum, Victoria, BC, Canada.
ke.ovaska@gmail.com
Gerardo Garcia, Chester Zoo, Upton by Chester, CH2 1LH, UK.
g.garcia@chesterzoo.org
MIRINABA CURYTIBANA: A SPECIES AT
HIGH EXTINCTION RISK, OR IS IT
ALREADY GONE?
By Marcos de Vasconcellos Gernet, Giovanna Yumi Scorsim
Omura, Carlos João Birckolz & Fabricius Maia Chaves
Bicalho Domingos
Mirinaba curytibana (Lange-de-Morretes, 1952) (Fig. 1) is a
land snail (family Strophocheilidae) discovered at Pilarzinho, a
locality now extremely urbanised in the large city of Curitiba,
Paraná State, southern Brasil. Only four shells were collected by
malacologist Frederico Lange de Morretes in 1937, which were
used in its formal description (Lange-de-Morretes, 1952; Gernet
et al., 2018). Its main distinguishing characteristics are a thin,
oval acuminated shell with a pronounced dorso-ventral
flattening, reddish-brown periostracum, and no operculum. Its
shell is approximately 48 mm in length (Lange-de-Morretes,
1952, Indrusiak & Leme, 1985).
In 1977 and 1978, the malacologist Leocádia Indrusiak
undertook an expedition in the Pilarzinho region, but she did
not collect any specimen in this area. She highlighted the
intense urbanisation that probably made the area unsustainable
for the survival of these snails (Indrusiak & Leme, 1985).
Nonetheless, three shells and a live specimen were found in
Juruqui, Campo Magro municipality. This locality is ~ 8 km
from the type locality of the species (Fig. 2) (Indrusiak &
Leme, 1985; Simone, 2006; Gernet et al., 2018). Currently,
Juruqui is inside the Passaúna Environmental Protection Area
(Category V of the IUCN Protected Areas System; Dudley,
2008). However, the native vegetation in this area is very
disturbed and fragmented, threated by agriculture, livestock
and Pinus and Eucalyptus plantations.
Paraná State was originally covered by a large area of Atlantic
Forest (83%) in its east-west extension, interspersed with non-
forested formations (17%). Mainly four phyto-physiognomy
units are found in the Atlantic Forest biome in the state: Dense
Ombrophilous Forest, Mixed Ombrophilous Forest, Seasonal
Semideciduous Forest, and Grassland (Maack, 1981; Roderjan
et al., 2002).
Mirinaba curytibana is confined to the Mixed Ombrophilous
Forest, or Araucaria moist forest formation, which is
characterized by numerous epiphytes, vines, palms and
abundance of the pine tree Araucaria angustifolia. These
forests can exhibit sharp small-scale variation in plant species
composition and vegetation structure, because of differences
in altitude, drainage, temperature and soil fertility (Veloso et
al., 1991; Roderjan et al., 2002), but only about 1% of this
formation remains in Paraná (FUPEF, 2001). This variation
may influence the patterns of terrestrial gastropod distribution
and endemism in the region (Indrusiak & Leme, 1985), and it
is possible that the M. curytibana specimens collected by
Fig. 1. Mirinaba curytibana holotype (MZUSP 16660).
Fig 2. Known distribution of Mirinaba curytibana in Paraná
State, southern Brasil. Adapted from Google Earth.
ISSN 0958-5079 Tentacle No. 29March 2021
13
Lange de Morretes were associated with very particular local
landscape and vegetation structure characteristics.
The species is considered Critically Endangered by the IUCN
(Mansur, 1996). The Brasilian Red List, compiled by the
Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade,
the Brasilian federal environmental agency (ICMBio, 2018),
included the species in the Endangered category (Ohlweiler,
2008; Santos et al., 2013), but it was excluded from the list in
its most recent review, because of the lack of more accurate
bibliographic information on the species (Santos et al., 2015;
ICMBio, 2018).
During 2015 and 2016 we did an extensive inspection
throughout Pilarzinho and the surrounding area, searching in
small fragments of native vegetation, but we were unable to
find evidence of the species existence. Because M.
curytibana is a highly endemic species, its absence in the
field is definitely not a good sign. Is the species already
extinct? If not, evidence suggests that it is at a very high risk
of extinction. Further expeditions to search for this species
throughout all natural vegetation remnants around the cities
of Curitiba and Campo Magro are needed to clarify this
situation. If living specimens are found, management
measures should be quickly implemented to ensure the
speciesconservation.
Dudley, N. 2008. Guidelines for Applying Protected Area
Management Categories. IUCN, Gland. x + 86 p.
FUPEF. 2001. Conservação do bioma floresta com araucária:
relatório final Diagnóstico dos remanescentes florestais.
FUPEF, Curitiba. 236 p.
Gernet, M.V., Belz, C.E., Birckolz, C.J., Simone, L.R.L. & Parellada,
C.I. 2018. A contribuição de Frederico Lange de Morretes para a
malacologia brasileira. Arquivos de Zoologia 49(3): 153-165.
ICMBio. 2018. Livro Vermelho da Fauna Brasileira Ameaçada de
Extinção: Volume 1. ICMBio, Brasília. 492 p.
Indrusiak, L.F. & Leme, J.L.M. 1985. Anatomia comparada de três
espécies de Mirinaba Morretes, 1952 (Gastropoda,
Strophocheilidae) do Estado do Paraná, Brasil. Acta Biológica
Paranaense 14(1-4): 163-180.
Lange-de-Morretes, F. 1952. Novas espécies brasileiras da família
Strophocheilidae. Arquivos de Zoologia do Estado de São Paulo
8(4): 109126.
Maack, R. 1981. Geografia Física do Estado do Paraná. (Second
edition). Secretaria da Cultura e do Esporte do Governo do Estado
do Paraná. Curitiba. 442 p.
Mansur, M.C.D. 1996. Hirinaba [sic] curytibana. The IUCN Red List
of Threatened Species 1996: e.T10187A3180941.
Ohlweiler, F.P. 2008. Mirinaba curytibana. In: Livro Vermelho da
Fauna Brasileira Ameaçada de Extinção. Volume 1 (ed. Machado,
A.B.M., Drummond, G.M. & Paglia, A.P.), p 479. Ministério do
Meio Ambiente/Fundação Biodiversitas, Brasília/Belo Horizonte.
Roderjan, C.V., Galvão, F., Kuniyoshi, Y.S. & Hatschbach, G.G.
2002. As unidades fitogeográficas do Estado do Paraná. Ciência &
Ambiente 24: 75-92.
Santos, S.B., Miyahira, I.C. & Mansur, M.C.D. 2013. Freshwater and
terrestrial molluscs in Brasil: current status of knowledge and
conservation. Tentacle 21: 40-42.
Santos, S.B, Miyahira, I.C., Salgado, N.C., Heydrich, I., Pena, M.S.,
Colley, E., Fernandez, M.A., Thiengo, S.C., Gomes, S.R., Silva,
M.J.M., Gonçalves, I.C.B., Lacerda, L.E.M., Tallarico, L.F. &
Martins, D.S. 2015. Observations on the review of the list of
endangered non-marine molluscs of Brasil. Tentacle 23: 26-28.
Simone, L.R.L. 2006. Land and Freshwater Molluscs of Brazil.
EGB/Fapesp, São Paulo. 390 p.
Veloso, H.P., Rangel-Filho, A.L.R. & Lima, J.C.A. 1991.
Classificação da vegetação brasileira, adaptada a um sistema
universal. IBGE, Rio de Janeiro. 124 p.
Marcos de Vasconcellos Gernet, Universidade Federal do Paraná
(UFPR), Programa de Pós-Graduação em Zoologia, Curitiba, PR,
Brasil. lmv.gernet@gmail.com
Giovanna Yumi Scorsim Omura, Universidade Federal do Paraná
(UFPR), Programa de Pós-Graduação em Zoologia, Curitiba, PR,
Brasil. giovannayumi.omura@gmail.com
Carlos João Birckolz, Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da
Biodiversidade (ICMBio), Parque Nacional de São Joaquim, Urubici,
SC, Brasil. carlosbirc@gmail.com
Fabricius Maia Chaves Bicalho Domingos, Universidade Federal do
Paraná (UFPR), Departamento de Zoologia, Curitiba, PR, Brasil.
fabricius.domingos@ufpr.br
ATEWA RANGE, GHANA: SPECIES-
RICH AND ENDEMIC-RICH UPLAND
EVERGREEN FORESTS THREATENED
BY ALUMINIUM ORE EXTRACTION
By Peter Tattersfield, Anton J. de Winter & Mac Elikem
Nutsuakor
The Atewa range (Fig. 1), Ghana, is situated about 80 km
northwest of Accra and contains the largest remaining area
(~ 174 km2) of upland evergreen forest in Ghana. It is one of
only two reserves in Ghana that support this uncommon
forest type (the other reserve, Tano Offin, is already severely
degraded). There are few elevated areas in West Africa so
Fig. 1. The Atewa Range, identifying the Forest Reserve
boundary and area of bauxite exploration.
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